Individuals often wish to be cooled, especially in warm ambient temperatures. The desire to be cooled may arise indoors or out, while exercising, engaging in sports, driving, or being in an environment that is not comfortably cool.
It is known in the art to provide a cap to be worn by an individual that can provide some cooling. U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,607 to Benevento, for example, discloses a cap whose headband includes a plurality of tapered porous pads. The pads are wet with water and apparently produce a cooling effect to the user's head as the water evaporates.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,029,438 to Henschel discloses a water-cooled cap in which an inner aluminum strip contacts the wearer's head, and is contacted with a water absorbent sponge strip (or strips), in turn over-covered by a fabric. The sponge material is wet, and as the water evaporates, the aluminum strip cools, thus cooling the wear's head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,902 to Mackenroth discloses a cooling hat band that includes an outer support band, an inner absorbent band, a wicking element and a water reservoir. Reservoir water moves along the wicking element to the absorbent band, whence it evaporates, passing through holes in the support band. The evaporative effect is said to remove heat from the headband, and thus from the wear's forehead.
However, not all individuals like to wear caps, and participation in some sports, e.g. bicycling, may dictate that another type of headgear be worn, a helmet for example. Thus, several attempts have been made in the prior art to improve upon a basic cooling band, such as a tennis player might wear around the forehead. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,581 to Rosenthal discloses a laminated cooling band comprising a skin-contacting air pervious heat conductive layer edge-connected to an air pervious fabric that is moistened with water exposed to ambient air. This device is said to cool the wearer as water evaporates from the outer fabric. However, as is typical with many prior art devices, evaporative cooling is dependent upon ambient air motion. If the wearer is stationary, the efficiency of evaporative cooling decreases.
Notwithstanding the above devices, there is a need for a self-contained personal evaporative cooling device that promotes efficient cooling. If worn about the user's neck, such device should not require headgear. Further, such device should be useable on other portions of the user's body, the forehead, for example. Preferably such device should enhance evaporative cooling by maximizing the heat sinking area, maintaining a thin film of liquid upon such area, and by circulating air within the device. Such device should be simple to use and wear, and should provide cooling that lasts for several hours without replenishment of liquid or energizing source. The present invention provides such a cooling device.